O's have some terrible luck against Red Sox

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BALTIMORE – Alexi Casilla couldn’t believe it. He was the tying run, and he was sure he’d score. Ryan Flaherty’s ball was going to be over Boston right fielder Shane Victorino’s head, and the Orioles would have another miracle comeback.

Casilla was wrong.

Victorino caught the ball, but by that time, Casilla was standing on third and watched in horror as Victorino threw the ball to first to double him up and end the game.

Casilla couldn’t believe it. “What happened?” he said to third base Bobby Dickerson. Instead of Chris Dickerson at bat with two outs, and the Orioles down by a run, the game was over.

The Boston Red Sox beat the Orioles 5-4 before 42,422 at Oriole Park on Saturday. Before the ninth inning, the Orioles trailed by three, and the game felt over.

Adam Jones led off the ninth with a base hit off Andrew Bailey. Chris Davis struck out, and Matt Wieters homered to right, his ninth of the year, to cut the lead to one.

J.J. Hardy singled, and Casilla, who hadn’t played since last Sunday because of a jammed right index finger, pinch ran. Flaherty drove a ball to right, but Victorino caught it. Casilla stopped a few steps past first, but was certain the ball would drop in.

“Bad read,” Casilla said. “That was bad baserunning. Today, that was probably the worst baserunning in the game.”

The Orioles (39-30) were furious with the umpires. Dustin Pedroia singled a moment after the Orioles were sure he had struck out. Home plate umpire Jeff Nelson called it a foul tip. Replays showed Pedroia struck out, and he admitted later to reporters that he had indeed missed the ball.

That started a three-run inning for the Red Sox (42-28), which proved decisive.

Freddy Garcia (3-4) allowed five runs on eight hits in 5 1/3 innings.

“That was a really bad call and I lose a little of my concentration. It shouldn’t happen. I’ve been in it for so long. I don’t think my emotions should take me out of the game, but it did for a little bit,” Garcia said.“They became big innings. … You can’t not [make] excuses.”

The Orioles began Saturday’s game nicely. The first four hitters reached safely, and they were quickly ahead 2-0. That didn’t last.

In the first, Nate McLouth singled and scored on Manny Machado’s 31st double of the season. Nick Markakis singled, and ones’ infield single scored Machado, and the Orioles had a 2-0 lead after one off John Lackey (4-5).

In the fourth after Pedroia’s single, Ortiz struck out, Carp hit his eighth home run to right field. Gomes singled, and Drew doubled to score Gomes and give Boston a 3-2 lead.

The Red Sox added a run in the fifth when Jacoby Ellsbury singled and stole second. He moved to third on Shane Victorino’s bunt and scored on Pedroia’s infield out.

Taylor Teagarden led off the fifth with an infield single. McLouth reached on an error at second by Pedroia with Teagarden taking third. McLouth was out trying to steal, but right before that, Orioles manager Buck Showalter was incensed by Nelson. He felt the umpire should have called a balk on Lackey.

“There were a lot of things that happened. I think we had a balk that we missed too. That was pretty blatant, but those things happen. You’ve got to overcome them. We made some mistakes, too today.” Showalter said.

It’s rare that Showalter publicly rebukes the umpires, but had a balk been called, Teagarden would have scored and McLouth would have been on second. He felt the Orioles were badly hurt by the decisions, but the non-balk hurt more than the foul tip.

“It’s a hard call, whether you call it one way or the other. It’s a hard call. The balk’s not a very hard call,” Showalter said.

McLouth was thrown out stealing for just the third time in 26 attempts.

“It wasn’t anything to do with his motion, didn’t have anything to do with getting thrown out, it was before, he balked. I couldn’t believe they didn’t see it but they didn’t,” McLouth said.

Machado grounded back to Lackey, and Markakis flied out, and the Orioles were left trailing 4-2 after five.

Lackey worked seven innings, allowing two runs on seven hits, walking one and striking out four. Koji Uehara struck out all three batters he faced in the eighth. Bailey got his ninth save thanks to Casilla’s blunder.

Gomes’ home run in the top of the sixth finished Garcia and gave Boston a 5-2 lead. It was his fourth of the season.

NOTES: T.J. McFarland struck out his first three batters on nine pitches, the first Oriole to do that since Alberto Castillo on Sept. 23, 2008.